2021 CSAT — Q52

Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference: anchor it to the passage’s prescriptive lines. The passage: our cities are climate-vulnerable, lack systems and facilities, and so “it is important to address the issues of air quality, transport, etc., that are vital to identifying sustainable solutions,” and “we need to… create an ecosystem that meets the needs of the people.”

Test (find the line, then match it). The forced inference is the passage’s own call to action: sustainability-related interventions are needed to maintain and develop cities. (c) restates that directly.

Eliminate by anatomy. (b) is half right, half wrong — rising population density is named as a problem, but the passage’s inference is the remedy (sustainability interventions), not a verdict that density is the hindrance to sustainable development. (a) is not in the passage — “well-defined administrative set-up with autonomy” is a governance remedy the passage never mentions. (d) is not in the passage — “Public-Private Partnership mode” is a specific solution absent from the text. The transferable rule: when a passage diagnoses problems and then calls for a class of solutions, the inference is that class of solutions — here, sustainability interventions — not one isolated problem or an unmentioned remedy. Key: (c).

“It is important to address the issues of air quality, transport, etc., that are vital to identifying sustainable solutions. We need to involve citizens in city planning and create an ecosystem that meets the needs of the people.” — the passage’s whole prescription is sustainability-oriented intervention (air quality, transport, citizen-led planning) to maintain and develop cities → (c). (b) seizes one problem (density) and over-frames it as the hindrance; (a) “administrative autonomy” and (d) “PPP mode” are remedies the passage never raises.

The passage frames cities as climate-vulnerable, under-served, and densifying, then prescribes addressing air quality and transport, involving citizens, and building a sustainable ecosystem.

• (c) captures that prescription: adopt sustainability-related interventions to maintain and develop cities. Correct.
• (b) elevates one named problem (density) into “the hindrance,” missing the remedy focus.
• (a) invents administrative autonomy as the answer.
• (d) invents the PPP mode as the solution.

Answer: (c).

The trap is (b): it lifts a real phrase from the passage (“population densities are increasing”) and recasts it as the conclusion. But the passage names density as one of several problems and then pivots to its actual message — we need sustainability-oriented interventions. The most logical inference tracks that pivot to the remedy (c), not the lingering on one symptom (b). On “most logical inference” items, prefer the option that captures the passage’s prescriptive direction over one that freezes a single diagnosed problem.